Saturday, August 15, 2015

The last time I saw this propaganda s**t was in 1956 in a Catholic
Sunday School passed out to the poor Mexicans and their kids. It was
used throughout Latin America to keep the poor peasants in their
place.

Let me give you the gist of it.

The poor man works for El Patron (the rich guy that pays him too
little to feed his family) and can't make enough money doing his job
six days a week to feed his family. The poor wife is at home with a
load of kids because the CHURCH won't allow birth control but that's
not in the story. So he roots through the GARBAGE every day to find
enough food to feed them. One day El Patron sees him rooting in the
garbage and ignores him just like he always does. Next day he
mysteriously finds a bag of clean food so he no longer has to dig in
the garbage. Then something happens to El Patron and the food stops
coming. The poor guy is too stupid to figure out the food must be
coming from El Patron until he approaches the widow for more money.
She is so glad to finally find the last person her wonderful cheap
ass husband was giving the left overs to that she is beside herself
but doesn't give him a raise. Next day the son delivers the food to
the poor guy. (Notice it is never the daughter because women are
useless baggage for screwing and incubating boy babies in this
society.) After a couple of days, he finds out the reason El Patron
never acknowledged him is he was either hard of hearing, unable to
talk without stuttering or almost blind like the son.

The moral of the story is you shouldn't judge others because you at
least have your health and you don't now what they are going through.

Bulls**t. El Patron with his compound, plenty of money and big car
can't afford hearing aides, glasses and a speech therapist???????????
No the Moral of the Story is: Shut Up Peasant and take whatever the
Rich guy decides to give you out of his garbage. Be glad you have a
job and someone's garbage can to rummage through to keep your family
from starving.

The OTHER version was in the math books.

Now if Juan finds 5 apples and is running home to give them to his
mother, father, sister and little brother and he runs into the
priest, who he gives one to and is then blessed him, how many apples
does he have. He has four apples and though he has nothing to eat, he
is blessed. He is also going to bed hungry because your God lets
children starve.

DO YOU WANT TO KNOW WHERE I SAW THIS S**T LAST NIGHT?

It was in the crap being passed out over the Internet to the FAITHFUL
Evangelic Fundamentalist Christians and they were lapping it up like
the flavored s**t it is.

Someone give them the Koolaide so they can get to the UFO, I mean
rapture. They are too stupid to survive.

Sixty years and now the same propaganda is being passed out to PEOPLE
in MY COUNTRY. We are now as third world nation being prepared to
serve the Religious Rich Masters while we work ourselves to the bone
to root in the dump for food while they live in their multibillion
dollar compounds in the lap of luxury and if we are so very, very
lucky we might get a job that doesn't pay enough to feed us opening
the gates to their heaven. Oh, yes, the poor guy is always the guy
opening the gate for El Patron because the gate or the yard is as far
as he is every getting. Did you happen to notice the analogy to dying
and going to heaven. No?? Here have some Koolaid.

Saturday, August 1, 2015

Every time there is
an event, there is a small war over the speaker NOT doing something
from perceived snubs to unreasonable demands and very, very seldom do
you hear from the speaker about what is going on. Since I no longer
work that circuit and am not trying to get jobs I can tell you the
truth. It look glamorous but it is no fun, at least in the USA.

Most of the time,
the venue that has hired or invited you to speak is more than anxious
to have everything go off well for them, the speaker, their and maybe
your staff (I say maybe because that is usually one friend or
spouse), and the audience. Unfortunately, for you, the audience, it
really is in that order so take note. I probably should put the your
(the speaker's) staff in quarantine because they really hate to have
a second person they have to deal with or bully or may act as a
witness.

You see, it is
really easy to bully the speaker. If you don't show up on stage, it
is your fault even if they have you tied up in the back room. If you
are late going on stage it is your fault. If you don't answer
questions even though they have forbidden it, it is your fault.
Whatever happens, except everything going off flawlessly, is going to
be your fault and if you don't cooperate or agree with the blame,
well, they are in control of whether everyone in the hiring part of
speakers even bothers to consider you for another job. Speakers can
be canceled and substituted at the last moment and as usual, it is
the speakers fault.

Believe it or not,
technical equipment like microphones and computers are not in the
speakers control. We don't drag an entire sound system or computer
display around. We might have the Powerpoint presentation on our
laptop but the screen and interface are not ours. When faced with a
$29.99 karaoke on sale at the El Cheapo outlet for a sound system in
a huge auditorium, you can be assured the people in the back row
can't hear anything or understand anything and there is nothing the
speaker can do about it. They will be blamed for poor diction and
not projecting. This is also why some speakers that use computer
generated graphics for their speeches tend to get a little crazy when
they arrive for an engagement and demand over the top checks of
equipment. They have already been burned. One speaker told me the
equipment she was shown and checked out before her lecture was pulled
and given to a bigger name speaker at the event and she found herself
with equipment she had never seen or operated when she was let into
the room minutes before her lecture. Everyone in management had
disappeared, too. Once again, it was all her fault. Personally, I
won't touch anything but a microphone and good old paper handouts for
that very reason. I have been sabotaged by the very people who hired
me and now they have very little room to do it.

The next biggest
thing is the speaker wouldn't answer questions. That is 100% under
the control of the people who book you and 90% of them have nixed
questions. You see, they want you and your audience out of that room
so they can bring the next paying group in for the next speaker or
the clean-up crew. These rooms rent by the hour. If there is no next
speaker, check to see if there is an expensive reception or meal you
could have bought a ticket for because there is no reason to attend
that if you get a free interaction with the speaker at the lecture
and the powers that be know that. See the speaker leaving with that
little group of people and feeling left out? That group of people are
usually the friends and backers of the people who hired them and they
have a iron grip on the speaker. If you are speaking as part of as
show, the people running the thing do not want a large number of
people congregating in the show hall and blocking the entrance to the
booths that have paid a pretty penny to be there and you can be
assured, will be complaining if that happens. You, as a speaker, are
competition to the booths.

Unless the setup is
very unprofessional, every moment of the speaker's time is accounted
for and booked from the moment they enter the venue, which is why
most of us run for the bathroom to start with. It is the last time we
will have a free moment.

Speaking is
stressful and the degree of stress depends on the person. I have seen
what should have been professional actors with loads of experience
shaking like leaves before a minor speaking engagement that was
following a script and introducing the other speakers. It does make
me wonder why they chose this profession. I can't see any degree of
fame or adoration being worth puking my guts out for a half hour
before uttering a half dozen sentences. I have zero stress speaking
or acting. I happen to love the stage and I am a rare minority. Keep
that in mind. A lot of speakers are nervous wrecks by the time they
get off the stage. Watch for the ones really smiling broadly. They
are usually five seconds from running, throwing up or passing out.
Always remember that writers are usually bad speakers. That is why
they write.

Try to look at it
from the speaker's view, physically. Here is one person looking at
dozens of people trying to get their attention and they are trying to
not trip over their own feet and land face down getting off the stage
and out the door. Yup, looks a little different from that view. The
equally ugly part is height. You do this too, so don't deny it.
People tend to see the people who are their height or greater. If you
are in a wheelchair, scooter or just plain short like I am, people
look right over the top of your head and don't see you. That is the
second biggest reason you get ignored. The biggest is the speaker has
been given a list of people they are supposed to recognize and fawn
over in the audience who happen to the backers for the event or
potential money people. Now we are talking stress. The speaker
probably has seen this person for a second tops or been given a
description like they are wearing a blue shirt, that helps, and in
addition to remembering your speech, gauging the audience reaction
for where to go, where to pause and where to expand, not tripping
over your own feet, choking on water or going dry mouth, you now have
to play salesperson to people unknown as soon as you finish speaking
and usually patiently answer truly idiotic questions for someone with
more money that brains. It is just so much fun that the speaker is in
a real good mood.

So dear audience try
to remember that 90% of the problems when you attend an event lay at
the feet of the organizers and it is their rules. Very seldom does a
speaker, unless you are talking the big guys, get any input at all
into what will happen at the lecture. You can divide the rest of the
blame between the audience and the speaker.

There are things a
speaker truly loves in an audience: NOT. Number one is the person who
has decided to spend 10 minutes in the lecture and has another
appointment they must get to so they take the front middle seat where
they cause as much disruption as possible exiting. Every moment of a
lecture is planned and when the audience disrupts the lecture,
something has to go out of it. Then there is the hard of hearing
person who loves to sit in the back row and complain about not being
able to hear. I have actually had people do that and refuse to take a
seat in the front row when offered. After all, the lecture revolves
around them and their disability. You aren't getting any sympathy
because I can't hear diddly squat and I pay for the front seat
knowing that. Then there is the always late crew that either have
paid for the front row or will actually drag a chair through the
entire audience to get to the middle of the front row and don't you
dare utter a word because most of the time they are disabled. Keep in
mind, they could have gotten there early and made arrangements before
you have a sympathy attack. There is always at least one person in
the audience who wants to be the center of attention and the speaker
has to deal with it because the management is going to disappear
right then and that person has a whole crew supporting their bid for
attention. That pretty much leaves 99% of the audience as unhappy
spectators in this little game. They will complain and it will be the
speaker's fault for not being able to deal with it.

Things look a lot
difference from this side of the microphone, don't they. Now put the
cherry on this sundae. During this entire fiasco, the speaker is
wondering if they are going to get another job which is how they put
food on the table. That kicked the stress level up another 20 points.

Then there are the
mistakes made by the booking agents at the beginning. A speaker can
find themselves booked into a totally inappropriate crowd just
because someone read and misinterpreted the title of a lecture. I
tend to provide, when I am given enough notice, a transcript of the
lecture and there are few deviations. Like I said, I depend on good
old paper and ink. I know one speaker who lost loads of engagements
and pretty much a book deal because the venue complained loudly to
the entire world she had arrived inappropriately attired for the
event. First of all, the event was in another part of the country and
how was she to know what the attendees were going to look like and
secondly, did they read the book? This was like booking a biker for
an accounting convention and then being shocked he showed up in
leathers rather than a button down shirt and tie. Even though I dress
conservatively, I have been sorely out of place at a few meetings. I
always advise people to make sure the people booking them know what
they are getting. Send a picture and be prepared for the simple fact
that no one pays attention.

There are other
things the speaker is just not responsible for and that would be the
air conditioning or heating, seats and venue. Most of the time the
speaker hasn't even seen the room until they walk into it. I tend to
explain that after 78 degrees I tend to pass out and that doesn't
make for a good lecture. Most speakers never think to warn the
management. At one lecture/booth, everyone involved in that aspect of
the program came in from other states and were used to a very
professional set up. What they got was an auditorium with such
excellent acoustics every breath was magnified an unbearable volume,
no air conditioning in 90 degree 100% humidity weather, concrete
floors without carpeting and a really cheap assortment of folding
tables that wouldn't hold any weight. I thought the psychic across
from me was going to pass out and it turned out her standard attire
was a suit with an insert rather than a blouse, so she couldn't
remove the jacket. She was dying. Even the people from Australia next
to me were dying and you know how hot it gets there. Not only that,
but there was no food or drink available for the 8 hour event if you
didn't bring your own and the closest restaurant was a few miles down
the highway. That was the last time that event happened but everyone
who bought tickets, usually 2 day tickets to see and hear speakers in
rooms divided by sheets with the prerequisite karaoke machine that
you couldn't use or you would blow the guy behind the next sheet
through the wall, proceeded to trash the exhibitors and speakers.
Trust me, I still get some fall out from it. I deny all knowledge of
being there.

You see one of the
problems in this profession is the organizers and the people making
the money are invisible. They are often franchisees that use a
national name on all the advertising. You never see them. Even when I
have worked crew for big events, I have not known the actual
organizers and could have fallen over their bodies and not known who
they were. If the audience had gotten a hold of them, I would have
been falling over their bodies. The national organization may drop
the person but because they have the bucks and the venue, they just
open under a new name with the same problems usually caused by
skimping on everything possible to bring in the biggest amount of
money. They get the booths because the vendors buy 4 booths and
number 5 is free. The vendors like to travel a circuit as close to
home as possible because they are dragging merchandise with them. And
thus, for the first time, they pack a show hall. The second time just
never happens.

The last complaint
is the speaker was trying to sell books, tapes, cd's or products and
the audience feels they paid for a lecture not a sales pitch. Now for
reality my friends. You don't get on that stage with anything that
isn't approved by the management. Believe me, start selling your what
have you and you will be removed from the stage, immediately. I have
asked speakers about this and the answer is always, we weren't being
paid and the advertisement part of the lecture was our payment. You
see, I never had anything I was selling when speaking so I had to ask
the so-called offenders and that was the answer I got 100% of the
time. One speaker even told me that the subject of his lecture was to
be readings he provided and the management was going to do the
booking and take a cut of the money. He spent the night eating chips
and watching TV in a hotel room because there were no bookings and he
was being trashed at the after dinner for being a money hungry
advertiser. That was, by-the-way, the whole purpose of having him
there. People with money will often spend a lot to get back at
someone they think has done something to them. That also works for
eliminating possible competition. There are few dirty tricks I
haven't seen pulled in my 40+ professional years.

I had noticed at one
event speakers were whisked away instantly, sometimes before they
finished their speech. I had an expensive membership for this
organization and then you only got discounted tickets for the events.

When a friend was
booked I waited to find out what was really going on that the rest of
us who paid money to get in were treated like third class citizens.
It turned out the speaker was whisked to a dinner meeting where after
driving from 5 AM to 6 PM to get there, she was expected to give her
lecture again and then do readings for at least 40 people who had
never been near the public event. This was what was really going on.
After that, she would have any readings that were booked from the
main event. Unfortunately it was after midnight and much to her
dismay the next morning she found she also had to pay for the hotel
room. Did she get paid for the event? Heck no. She was supposed to
make her money off the readings booked from the main event. She
tallied up over $300.00 worth of expenses because the rental car to
get there turned out to be on her, too, and this was 40 years ago.
Today that expense would be a thousand dollars or more as she had no
control over the rental or the hotel. I don't need to tell you she
didn't have the money. You might ask what the deal was with such an
elaborate plan. The powers that be were selling real estate in a
psychic community to the chosen at the dinner at a minimum of
$40,000.00 a pop investment. In today's world that would be a few
hundred thousand but you have no idea how many psychics and con
artists would put up their life savings to live in a protected
community with their own psychic kind and how people with more money
than sense would pay millions to live there, too. The problem was the
real estate didn't belong to them and was in a trust that could not
be broken. I know because I had tried to buy the same land a year
before. The public lectures and organization, that was using the name
of an organization across the country that never heard of them, was a
cover for the real estate con. Hence, folks, you never really know
what is going on at these events. I could write a book on it. Hmmm...
it might be a best seller.

Fortunately and
thanks in a good part to the Internet, speakers are pretty wise to
games that get played with them footing the bills but the blame for
everything from the audience's antics to the weather is something
speakers are still having laid at their feet.

Now, you the
audience, have an idea of who is really at fault. So next time you
have a really bad experience instead of blaming the wrong person,
find out who is really running the event and then use their name in a
complaint to the National Headquarters. Because no one ever does
that, the National Headquarters may not find out what is going on for
a two or more years. If it is an event with exhibitors, they will be
filing the complaints before the end of the show because when you pay
$600.00 or more for a booth you get a little testy if you are very
uncomfortable. Also complain to the landlord. The odds are if the
venue is very inappropriate for the event, the landlord was lied to
about what was going on. Yes, you are going to get people in trouble,
but they shouldn't be running events to start with and you will
often, when you ferret out the culprits, discover they have no
interest or connections to the theme of the event at all. They are
con artists that move from venue to venue putting on events and
lining their pockets while everyone else suffers. Landlords will put
a quick end to that because they have organizations they belong to
and the word travels fast.

Just a word to
speakers so listen up. Nothing makes for better advertising than a
feud between speakers or authors and it works to the advantage of the
booking agents. If no one is comparing notes, people can get away
with murder. Always, find out if the offending person actually said
or did what they are accused of doing or saying. The whole thing may
be a coverup for bad behavior on the part of the people hiring you.

Oh and a word to the
wise to event organizers, do not feed pigs in a blanket to starving
vegetarian authors. They will upchuck on your stage. Just saying.....